While employees at Hogen Adams, a Minnesota law office specializing in Native American law, have private offices, conversations could often be heard through the walls. This problem was particularly acute in the company conference room at the end of the hallway. As a result, partner meetings or meetings where confidential information was discussed had to be held offsite, leading to coordination nightmares and increased travel expenses.
Vanya Hogen, a partner and co-founder at the firm, began looking for a solution. “We had this nice conference room that we couldn’t even use due to the confidentiality issues - one day I just decided that enough was enough,” Hogen said. Insulation was added to the walls of the conference room, but speech continued to escape through the door. Hogen began to search online for a technological solution to the problem.
SOLUTION Searches for office white noise machines led Hogen to Cambridge sound masking solutions from Biamp. More sophisticated than white noise, sound masking emits a gentle, airflow-like sound into an environment through speakers installed in the ceiling. The noise is barely noticeable but is specifically engineered to cover up the sound of human speech, making it less intelligible. Biamp performed an onsite demo at Hogen Adams with a certified masking partner in their area. Impressed with the results, the firm agreed to have sound masking installed in their office space. Small, barely visible emitters (loudspeakers) were placed in the ceiling tiles throughout the space, which were connected by cables to an intuitive wall mounted control module.
CONCLUSION
Employees don’t notice the masking sound, but they do notice that the law office is noticeably more acoustically comfortable, less distracting, and more private. “Since installing sound masking, meetings in our conference room can’t be overheard elsewhere in our office space, and neither can conversations in adjacent offices,” Hogen said. “I wish I had known about sound masking earlier!”
A graduate of DeVry Institute of Technology, Doug has been in the Technology industry since 1976 and actively oversees Fearing’s daily operations. Along with his wife, Lois, and three others, Doug started Fearing’s in a 600 square-foot facility in Portage, Wisconsin. In the 25 years since, the company has grown to over 30 employees with offices in Madison and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Doug likes to say he’s a “TV Technician with a dream� going back to his history with the family’s original business-Fearing’s TV and Appliance.
Doug values time with family, watersports, hiking, snowshoeing and skiing. In addition to being a devoted member of his church, Doug serves as Board President for Kinship Mentoring of Columbia County, Board member of Schools for Haiti and Scripture Chair of the Gideons-Portage camp.
A graduate of MATC, Lois oversees Fearing’s daily book keeping along with various HR responsibilities.
Along with Doug, Lois is deeply connected to community outreach, serving as a Board member and Fundraising Committee Chairperson for Kinship Mentoring of Columbia County. She also serves on the Schools for Haiti Fundraising committee. In addition, Lois’ ongoing passion and commitment to provide care for the elderly comes from her 10-year history of working in a Reedsburg, Wisconsin Nursing home.
Lois enjoys singing, hiking, sunny days on the pontoon, and spending time with her 4 grandchildren.
Ehren drives Fearing’s technology by continually seeking out trends to enhance capabilities while supporting Sales, Engineering and Installation teams. Throughout his years with Fearing’s, Ehren’s talent and vision have joined forces to create a wide variety of projects and strategic solutions that exceed expectation.
Ehren loves music, family time, movies, nature, sustainability efforts and electric vehicles.
With 10 years with Fearing’s and over twice that long in the industry, Ben continues to lead, coordinate, and develop the Commercial AV team.
By consistently delivering an outstanding experience and outcome, Ben contributes to the Fearing’s legacy of long-lasting partnerships that truly make a difference. Whatever the Commercial AV need may be, Ben and team deliver at the highest level.
Ben is an avid fisherman and photographer. He enjoys coaching his sons and other youth.
Chris has been with Fearing’s for 20 years and in the industry for over 2 decades. As a Certified leader in Sales Acceleration and trained in EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating Systems), Chris successfully utilizes his skills to lead the Fearing’s Salesforce. Chris and team are motivated and driven to develop new client partnerships while continuing to reinforce loyal long-term relationships with ongoing Service excellence.
Married for 19 years with 3 children, Chris enjoys skiing, hiking, fishing, boating, hunting, camping and golf. He’s also been actively involved as a Youth Football and Softball coach for his family and others.
